Magic's End, Magic's Beginning
by Herryk
Summary: HPWoT cross. After the finial battle in DH, Harry finds himself in a strange land, with the help of another magical being Harry starts down a dark road seeking answers and getting caught up in events with another person that has a prophecy to fullfil.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer : I do not own nor will profit financially from this story. I thank J.K. Rowlings and Robert Jordan for letting their fans continue the adventures of their characters in other realms.

Summary : This is a **Harry Potter **/ **Wheel of Time **cross-over that takes place after _**Deathly Hallows **_and before _**The Eye of the World**_. The setting will be in Robert Jordan's world. If you haven't read DH yet there will be some spoilers in this first chapter, even though I have altered some of the events. Enjoy and review if you will (we writers love reviews).

**Magic's End, Magic's Beginning**

**Chapter One**

Harry gripped the invisibility cloak tighter to him as he danced through the melee around him, the centaurs and the wizarding families had pushed Voldemort and his remaining death eaters into the castle, and the scene was utter chaotic. Spells of every color flew in each direction and occasionally a green one would streak past him and into the mass of combatants that surrounded him. The teachers and the students had fallen back into the great hall and where using the tables as a barricade flinging spells out from behind cover, the centaurs were taking the brunt of the damage at the moment as Voldemort was using some kind of flame whip to decimate their numbers. Harry knew for his plan to work most of the remaining death eaters would either have to be killed or at least put out of commission, and that was what he was working on right now.

He spotted Lucius and Narcissa double teaming some of the parents while yelling out the name of their son, frantically looking for him. The opportunity was too good to pass up, as he maneuvered himself behind them. He thrust his wand out and stabbed Lucius in the back before casting the reductio curse, the man's body exploded as his upper half went aloft and landed on some of those he was fighting before. Narcissa screamed as the reality of her husband's death was literally sprayed all over her. Harry ducked and shuffled to his left dodging the killing curse that she had cast in his direction.

"COWARD!! SHOW YOURSELF!!", she screamed as she started to turn in a full circle casting the same spell over and over. Harry had taken cover behind a column and was amazed at the sheer stupidity she was showing. Several of her spells had killed not the defenders, but fellow death eaters. He recognized at least three former Slytherins she had gotten and now Warrington, Pucey, and Montague could be counted amongst the dead. She had just thrown up a shield to deflect a yellow colored curse, when Harry stepped out from behind the column and cast a severing charm at the base of her neck.

A loud explosion caught his attention as he ducked back behind the column, as he looked out he smiled as he saw Hermione and Ginny standing back to back casting banishing and explosive hexes at a knot of death eaters that were threatening to move up the stairs to a balcony that over looked the entry hall. His eyes tracked up the stairs and he saw that a few death eaters had already made it up there, but there seemed to be a few students fighting them off. He was about to come out from his cover when he spied Fenrir Grayback getting ready to leap down the steps and tackle the two girls, when he suddenly stopped and looked down to see a large silver bar sticking out of his chest. As he fell dead, Harry was amazed to see none other than Sibyll Trelawney standing behind him, it was then he recognized the silver stick as one of her prized silver divining rods.

A series of curses struck around the column and Harry knew that his cover was about to be destroyed. Moving down the entrance hall he looked around for another spot he could conceal himself in, finding only the bodies of either defenders or death eaters as he went. In the heat of battle you don't know which side is gaining the upper hand, you only know if those around you are living or dead, it was the one advantage that Harry did have over everyone else today. Wearing the invisibility cloak gave him the precious seconds to look around and judge where and what was happening.

Taking stock and looking around once he found a new spot he gathered as much as he could. Outside the last two giants had fallen to a combination of Hagrid's brother Grawp and the combined forces of the thestrals and hippogriffs, which were now sweeping over the grounds killing anything wearing black robes. What remained of the centaur forces had retreated from the main doors and was helping in the outside battle as arrows hit their targets with deadly accuracy. The battle inside had changed and was considerably more dangerous. Voldemort had moved to a stairwell and was effectively holding off at least a dozen wizards and witches, near his position was the Lestrange family that had formed a pocket inside a cubbyhole and was taking out defenders with equal ease, and inside the great hall was Snape surrounded by his seventh year Slytherins and one red headed traitor.

"Avada Kedavra!", a feminine voice had screamed out near him. Harry turned just in time to watch as the love of his life Ginny was falling into a heap on the floor. Hermione turned around just in time to receive the same spell from the girl. Hatred and rage built up in Harry as he raised his wand slowly and took aim at the one girl that he never thought would betray him.

"Now he's going to mine you slags!", Cho Chang yelled at the two corpses on the ground in front of her. She never saw or heard the spell cast, but the golden flames of raw magic slammed into her throwing her across the entrance way, but before she could hit the other side she burned to ash. Tears streaked down his face at the loss of his only best friend and his only girl friend. He lowered his head in grief, but held back his emotions as there was still much to do this day. He turned toward the great hall and noticed that Voldemort and the Lestranges had moved into there, getting ready to claim victory over Hogwarts and with it Britain and the Wizarding world.

Harry walked down the hall littered with the dead, dying and injured. What was left of the defenders of the castle were trying to pull whoever they could away from the great hall and to safety. Under his invisibility cloak he entered the great hall to see the last of those standing on the raised platform that held the teacher's table. Up there stood the Weasley twins, Molly and Arthur, Neville, Luna, McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, Professor Sprout and Trelawney, the Patil twins, Lavender Brown, and others he either didn't recognize or was too tired to care. Standing before them was Voldemort looking a little worse for wear as someone had hit him with an Incendio and his robes had taken the brunt of the damage, also the Lestranges, Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise and his mother, Pansy, Avery, Rookwood, and Ron Weasley. Ron had left Hermione and him while they were hunting the horcruxes, but had returned when Harry found the sword, it was in the woods with Ron holding the sword that he had chosen his path.

(flashback)

They both stood ready to destroy the horcrux, Harry holding the locket on a stump and Ron gripping the sword tightly in his hands.

"Ready? On my count one... two... three... open."

The locket hissed and opened with a snap, within each side behind the glass two red eyes stared up locking with Ron's.

"Stab it!", Harry yelled to Ron as he had seemed to suddenly freeze on the spot. The words cut through the haze in Ron's mind as he raised the sword over his head, with the point facing down toward the locket. Harry gripped the locket tighter, getting himself ready for the possible backlash or blood that would come after.

"I have seen your heart and it is mine.", A voice from inside the locket hissed.

"Don't listen to it Ron! Just stab it!", Harry yelled back, hoping his friend wasn't going to fall to its enchantments.

"I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible."

"Stab!", Harry's voice raw with emotion.

"Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter, least loved, now, by the girl that prefers your friend. Second best, always..."

"Ron don't listen to it! It lies! Stab it!" the locket was vibrating in his grip. He knew something was about to happen, but what he had no idea. Then Ron raised the sword a little bit, and Harry felt relief as he knew his friend was about to plunge the point into the damned thing. Then things went bad, very bad. Suddenly those red eyes seemed to bubble and out from the two sides grew a phantom Harry and a phantom Hermione. Harry had to let go because of the heat the locket was giving off was intense. From the ground behind it, he saw both of the phantoms looking at Ron and before he could even speak, the phantom Harry opened his mouth.

"Why return? We were better without you, happier without you, glad of your absence... We laughed at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption."

"Presumption!", echoed the phantom Hermione, she looked dark and her robes cut much higher than normal for Tonks. Ron looked horrified and transfixed, the sword now hanging loosely at his side. "Who would look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you, compared with the boy who lived?"

Harry got his voice back and started yelling at Ron, "Stab the damn thing! Hermione loves you!"

"Your mother confessed," sneered phantom Harry, while phantom Hermione jeered, "that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange..."

"Who wouldn't prefer him, what woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing compared to him, "the phantom Hermione said as she cuddled up beside the phantom Harry and kissed him deeply.

Harry watched as Ron's face filled with anguish and anger as he raised the sword again.

"Do it Ron!", Harry called out to his best friend, but he saw the dark emotions carved on his friends face and the red tint now in his eyes, "Ron...?"

Harry rolled out of the way as the blade of the sword came down where he was laying. He sprang up and dropped into a defensive posture as Ron's head was turned down just a little and he was looking at his through his bangs.

"Lies?", Ron spoke in a low whisper, "I don't think so, everything it said was true." Harry lunged out of the way as Ron swiped the air where his chest was.

"All my life I was second to you... eat your breakfast because Harry Potter would... I bet Harry Potter does his chores... It never ended, my brothers talked about you all the time growing up... even when my sister played house, she was always Mrs. Potter... " He swung again at Harry who jumped to the left to avoid the attack.

"And when I finally meet the Harry Potter what does he do?", the sword arches in the air toward Harry again and he roles away, "He buys all the candy on the trolley showing me just how poor I really was... He gets two...TWO top of the line brooms, while I fly around on a second hand used one... "

Harry sees the red in Ron's eyes are growing and knows that the horcrux is beginning to poses him, he knows he must act fast and now. He rushes forward as Ron is about to strike again, and grabs his upper arms in a blocking move, and kicks out with his right knee striking Ron between the legs. Ron howls in agony and falls backwards to the ground releasing the sword, which Harry grabs a hold of.

Harry looks down on his best friend, his heart breaking because of the perceived hurt he has caused him, though Ron is still muttering about how Harry has everything. Harry never noticed that Ron had rolled closer to the stump that the locket lay upon, until Ron jumped up and grabbed it.

"Maybe not everything...," Ron said in an evil filled voice, pulling his wand out of his back pocket and aiming it at Harry.

"Avada...," Ron never finished the spell, somewhere inside of Harry, reflex took over and he spun into Ron raising the sword blade and knocking his wand hand up, and then bringing the blade back down again in one smooth motion, removing the locket and Ron's hand from his arm. Ron bellowed in pain and his hate filled eyes fell on Harry, while he clutched his bleeding arm to his chest. He then apparated away.

(end flash back)

The scene hadn't changed much while Harry thought back, McGonagall now stood in the forefront with the others flanking her wands at their sides but ready, and Voldemort had stepped forward as well, his goons held their wand up pointing at the others.

"Minerva... We don't need all of this violence. You have fought a great battle, but have lost, I don't want to have to spill any more wizard blood today. Surrender your wands and I will let you live.", Voldemort actually sounded magnanimous, almost. McGonagall was looking around the room, looking for any chance at victory she might have overlooked, Voldemort didn't miss this either.

"Looking for your savior... your chosen one? He fell to my hand earlier. There is no more hope for you."

While they were talking, Harry had moved quietly up behind the remaining death eaters, surveying his options he found their destruction. They were all standing on debris, rock from the wall, wood from the tables, and other things he couldn't identify. He would only have one chance and he needed to take out as many as he could in just one attack, the Lestrange men, Rookwood and a few other death eaters were too inviting a target. The stone slab they were standing on was perfect, he pulled, aimed his wand at it and cast his spell.

It all happened at once, McGonagall and the others sprung into action as the death screams of the men rang out into the room, as large stone spikes pierced their bodies. The Weasleys, Neville, and Lavender all cast Incendio, while Flitwick conjured a shield and McGonagall transfigured some rubble into a barrier. Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy were the only ones that weren't fast enough to raise a shield themselves which was obvious as they burned like pyres in the hall. Snape had spun around and started casting wide area detection spells, yelling that someone had Potter's invisibility cloak, Voldemort yelled in frustration and cast a blasting charm on the barrier in front of him, while the others spread apart looking for easy shots.

Mrs. Zambini was the next to fall, when she jumped over the barrier and straight into Luna casting a concussion spell. The point blank hit and the air pressure exploded out the back of the female death eater painting the barrier in her blood. A seventh year Ravenclaw was next, she moved to cast a stunner and took a killing curse in the face courtesy of Bellatrix. Harry was busy dodging debris that was being banished in every direction by Serverus, and missed out on seeing Molly literally cook Avery like a Sunday roast. It seemed that Filius was being kept busy himself constantly recasting shields, Professor Trelawney was showing some skill as well as she was also constantly casting repair spells on the crumbling barrier, along with Professor Sprout.

Neville, Lavender, and the Patil twins rushed out from behind the barrier and opened up duels with what remained of the death eaters. Neville scoring first blood on Bellatrix with a cutting curse striking her face. Lavender had summoned Blaise towards her and moved out of the way and let him collide with the wall, and the Patil twins kept taking turns transfiguring Draco's clothing so that he couldn't move, while the other would send curses toward the death eaters. Ron was about to kill Lavender when the Fred and George conjured a dog-sized spider, which made him scream like a little girl and started to shooting killing curses at the illusion. McGonagall came out next and started to engage with Voldemort, with the aid of four more students.

Serverus heard Ron scream and left the futile attempt at attack nothing and went to help his comrades. Seeing everyone distracted, Harry knew his time had come and tore off the invisibility cloak, letting himself be seen for the first time. There were some gasps as he reappeared and because of this, the twin's illusion of the spider vanished and Ron was back in the fight. Weighing the options Harry picked his first target, he banished a large cinder block size piece of stone and crushed Blaise's head, leaving a wounded Lavender to smile at him. He heard someone cast the cruciatus and spotted Draco with one of the Patil girls unconscious on the ground and the other writhing under him. He whistled and Draco spun to see him.

"You know your daddy and mommy died begging me not to kill them.", It was all he had to say, even though untrue, "And I want to hear you beg too." He watched the color fade out of Draco's face only to be replaced with crimson rage.

Draco seemed to forget that he even had a wand in his hand, as he charged Harry with snarling yell. Harry watched in amazement as Draco pulled back his arm to strike him, and then he stepped out of the way, letting Draco run himself through with the beam that Harry was standing in front of.

"Say it Draco," Harry said in a sickly sweet voice, as he watched his nemesis spit out blood from his mouth. Draco's eyes were filled with rage and anger, but he wasn't going to give him the victory.

"Oh fine then you big ferret." Harry said before he cast incendio on the pile of rubble and engulfing Draco in magical flames, ending the Malfoy line forever.

Harry was about to relive Neville when he heard Molly scream something and watched as she threw herself in front of a killing curse meant for Fred, saving him from being killed by his brother. He stood in shock as he watched Fred holding his now dead mother closely and howled in lose. George took slow strides towards his once brother and raised his wand deliberately and cast an explosive hex at near point blank range, leaving only a fine red mist where once Ron's head had stood on his shoulders.

Somehow, the barricade that was placed on the front doors had come down and the room was filling with combatants that had been locked outside. Hagrid stormed across the hall in great bounds and delivered a crushing blow to the back of Bellatrix's neck, the snapping of her spin could easily be heard as she fell to the floor.

Snape had just banished Trelawney across the room and he knew that the battle was lost and he was going to die for his master's cause today, but not before killing some of those that he felt needed it. He zeroed in on Neville who was bruised and bloody and barely standing, 'an easy kill' he thought, but before he could move to deliver the killing blow to the near squib, he felt something sharp and then a warm oozing feeling down his stomach. A two and half inch wide steel blade was sticking out of his chest, and before death took him he was horrified when he heard, "Greasy hair attracts swarming nufflifters"

Voldemort was in the strangest duel he had ever encountered. A part goblin was shielding his curses, at least two dozen children... CHILDREN, were casting harmless jinxes, and hexes at him, and a transfiguration teacher was making every piece of rubble into something that would attack him. It was like trying to fight off a swarm of flies, they could do no real damage but he was having to expend energy to keep them at bay. Did they not know who he is, or that he had the unbeatable wand? Did they even consider that he didn't need his followers anymore, or that nobody could defeat him now?

Suddenly everyone stopped fighting him and moved away, he laughed inside as now he would start his rule by killing all those that were dumb enough to back away from him. His humorous thoughts of homicide ceased when he heard the reason they had stopped.

"So Tom just you and I again, I see."

Voldemort searched the encircling crowd and the boy he had tried to kill as an infant and again on so many occasions, stepped out to face him.

"What? No hug?" Harry said as he casually walked into the open circle standing opposite of the Dark Lord, "Everyone back up to the walls, and no one interferes with this duel." The crowded hall pushed back up against the walls leaving Harry and Voldemort nearly three quarters of it to them.

Voldemort started to laugh out loud, "Do you think you can beat me? Me, the one that defeated the great Albus Dumbledore! I, Lord Voldemort Heir to the great Salazar Slytherin! Holder of the Elder wand.", He finished softly holding out the wand so that Harry could see it.

"You see Tom, that's where you screwed up. Mind if I tell you what you have failed to do?", Harry asked in a calm questioning voice.

"I haven't fail, BOY! Once I kill you and those here, I will go out and find more followers from the worthless sheep that call themselves wizards and rule the world!"

"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk... Tom, have you forgotten what Ollivander told you? The wand chooses its master, not the other way around."

"I took the wand from the body of Dumbledore. It is mine!"

"The wand had already chosen a new master before then, Tom. The person that disarmed Dumbledore was not you, but Draco Malfoy and since then I have defeated him twice. To be a matter of fact, I'm using his other wand right now.", Harry waved Draco's wand in front of Voldemort.

"I defeated you in the forest! The wand is mine!"

"A funny thing there, Tom. I wasn't carrying a wand then, and I came openly, I never surrendered, and your killing curse was ineffectual as always."

Voldemort's rage was building, he would need it to overpower the boy and defeat him once and for all.

"Oh, and Tom. I discovered the thing that is worse than death.", Harry smirked.

That had done it, Voldemort had gone into hyper rage with the taunting words of the boy. He raised the wand yelling the words to end the boy's life forever. The people in the room could see and feel the magic emanating off the both of them, objects on the ground started to levitate and the room began to shake. Harry's hand came up as fast as Voldemort's, whispering his spell instead. The green of the killing curse erupted out of the wand held by Voldemort, and the almost invisible light blue of Harry's disarming spell passed each other mid room. Voldemort was surprised when his curse faded out before reaching Harry and the boys spell hit home making his wand fly out toward his enemy.

Voldemort's rage so mighty that he thrust out his left arm and pushed all of his magic out toward Harry, the stream of raw silver colored magic erupted towards him. Surprised Harry threw up his right hand to shield or block the incoming wave, but instead felt his magic responding and answered with his own golden colored beam. These two forces of magic collided with the ringing sound, raw magic dripped unto the floor between them as both pushed their wills forward. Slowly Harry became calm and a look of serenity came over his face, his golden beam holding Voldemort's in place. He raised his left hand palm up and started to chant something under his breath.

Neville was watching the confrontation, the sheer amount of power being displayed was unlike anything he had ever heard about, even in the stories of Merlin. He couldn't take his eyes off of Harry as he raised his hand and a small black orb appeared with green flames dancing about on the inside. Everyone around him gasped as Harry took a step toward the Dark Lord, then another. Neville's eyes shot over to the Dark Lord whose face had tightened with concentration, his eyes seemed to burn with the same red color that his pupils were.

It had finally come to Harry the answer he had been looking for, and what Dumbledore had hinted to so many times after his fifth year. Love, was truly the answer. He wanted Voldemort to pay for his crimes to die and never come back, but more he wanted to protect the innocent, those that had a chance at a life unlike him. To have a loving family, friends, and someday have children of their own to love. He tapped into the love in his heart for his dead parents, Sirius, Hermione, and Ginny and it gave him the strength to hold back Voldemort, then he felt the love that he had for those around him now, Hagrid, Luna, Neville, and the others, those that he never wanted to feel pain or sorrow ever again.

The voice of his mother came next, playing in his head a chant to say, he started to repeat it to himself out loud, then the next voice of Ginny telling him to walk forward and grasp Tom by the hand he was using, and lastly the voice of Sirius telling him to throw the ball at him just before taking his hand. With a sudden sense of peace he took his first step.

In the great hall people heard phoenix song and looked up to see seven phoenixes flying in a circle around the two combatants. Neville's heart swelled with love and pride as he watched his friend close the distance. He saw that Harry was now standing before Voldemort less than two feet away, when the blackish ball of energy that he had been forming was thrust forward and struck the Dark Lord, and less than a second later Harry had clamped his hand around Voldemort's.

The energy from the magical explosion was felt clearly for more than a thousand miles.

Centuries past and theoreticians have argued what happened that day, that moment, but no answer has ever been found. What is known is that anyone that wore Voldemort's mark, lost their magic completely, and those that were on the brink of death were healed. Britain, no the entire Wizarding world changed after that, laws were constructed in Harry's name to end bigotry and promote understanding between races. Any student that entered Hogwarts was now sorted on the spot where the battle took place. Even with all the awards, titles, accolades, and even monuments made in his name, the one question that everyone wanted to really know was answered by the last surviving person to have witnessed the battle.

On her death bed, Luna Lovegood-Longbottom, two hundred and sixty three years old, said, "Harry didn't die, but went to where he was needed most. We will see him again, and when we do he will restore magic's gift."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer : I do not own nor will profit financially from this story. I thank J.K. Rowlings and Robert Jordan for letting their fans continue the adventures of their characters in other realms.

Summary : This is a **Harry Potter **/ **Wheel of Time **cross-over that takes place after _**Deathly Hallows **_and before _**The Eye of the World**_. The setting will be in Robert Jordan's world. If you haven't read DH yet there will be some spoilers in this first chapter, even though I have altered some of the events. Enjoy and review if you will (we writers love reviews).

**Magic's End, Magic's Beginning**

**Chapter Two**

Green eyes looked into red, and harry no longer saw the hate and malice that had burned there for as long as he could remember, but now there seemed to be only fear. The link between them flared wide open for only the briefest of instances, he felt rather than heard Tom scream his name. "Good bye Tom.", was all Harry thought back in that instant. He grasped his hand and it seemed that Harry could see everything at once, all the possible paths and all the possible out comes all at once. He watched as the magic surrounded the Dark Lord and enveloped him wrapping him tighter and tighter, then shrinking down ever smaller until it disappeared. He saw his parents and those that he loved the most materialize and step towards him, Lily, his mother reached out to him. She opened her mouth to speak then he was jerked back harder than he had ever felt in his life.

The last thing that Harry heard was his mother's voice saying something about the dark lord and finial victory, then before he could try and comprehend what she had said, the world around him exploded in a multitude of colors and sounds. He felt as if he was in the center of some massive whirl wind that was spinning him around and the intense pressure as he thought his limbs were going to pull free of their sockets. The blackness started to close in around him, as if someone were closing blinders around him, right as his vision narrowed to a single slit, the world exploded again in brilliant light and sound, the whirlwind was back, but now it felt as if he were to be crushed instead of pulled apart. The nauseating sensations stopped abruptly, and he found himself on his hands and knees emptying his stomach on the ground below him.

As his stomach gave its last heave, Harry rolled over on the wonderfully lush grass and let the warm sunlight warm his face. Even with the dull throbbing in his head and the pains running through his body, he bolted upright, looking around for the Great Hall and anything that even remotely looked like Hogwarts or its grounds. He did see his cloak laying about six feet away from him, and he crawled over to it and felt around finding the secret pocket that held Hermione's beaded bag. He touched his face and luckily his glasses were still there, and then his neck and felt the moleskin pouch still hanging, and lastly he looked around himself and found both wands laying next to each other, the Elder wand and the Hawthorn wand that formerly belonged to Draco Malfoy.

Knowing that he held the basics of wizard survival, he examined his surroundings. The lush green grass looked like a carpet that had been rolled out, there were trees and hedges that had been perfectly manicured and trimmed, and flowers were in neat rows or bunched up in circles or other shapes. 'Ok', he thought, 'I landed in someone's award winning garden and hurled all over it. Won't they be happy with me.'

He rose up carefully and spotted a large stone building, that looked very much like a palace, everywhere else had a high wall around it and he couldn't see over it. 'Oh well, looks like I'm heading that way.', he joked with himself, before picking up the cloak and heading in that very direction. It was like every muscle in his body was sore, and he felt like he could sleep for days, but he needed to find out what was happening at Hogwarts. Each step was an effort and a testament to his drive and determination to reach his goal, and he continued to press on.

(break)

He felt like he had walked for hours but was close enough to the stone monstrosity to see that marble steps rose up and went to a platform of some sort, but a distinctive sound off to his right caught his attention. Even with the soreness he half walked and half jogged over in that direction, as the noise got clearer he found himself almost at a dead run. He had just come from one battlefield and the sounds were very similar. He crossed a hedge and saw two men wearing red and dark green armor with swords drawn and defending a small child that they held behind them. Four other men wearing the same armor lay on the ground in a deathly path to their still living comrades, arrow shafts sticking out from them, making them look almost like pin cushions.

There were ten men dressed in shades of green lunging at the two defenders, and saying something that he couldn't understand. All the aches and pains burned away as rage and anger boiled up inside of Harry, despite how tired he felt he had seen enough death this day and he wasn't about to let some child die. 'Damn the Secrecy Act! They owe me for taking out Tom!', he thought bitterly as he pulled the hawthorn and elder wands from his back pocket and shoved the cloak inside his shirt.

(break)

Furyk parried another attack, and heard that Bo'ric had done the same, they had been ambushed here, in the garden of all places. The first arrows had missed their charge, but had taken down Missima. Corloc and Rabisti had been next using their bodies as shields as the remainder of the Deathwatch grabbed their charge and had tried to make a run for it. Utiil had been cradling the young girl in his arms when a man dropped from the tree, he had turned his back to him and released the girl to run to Furyk and Bo'ric as he took the blade undefended across his back.

Furyk had decided to take another route out of the garden only to see it blocked by three others and then the remaining assassins dropped from the trees and had backed them up against one of the smaller walls. He would die this day protecting his charge, the only thing keeping him alive was that there were too many of the enemy for them to advance effectively. He spun and blocked another blade from approaching the girl, then from beyond them and wild cry and a beam of light struck one of the assassins.

He thought that a sul'dam had been exercising her damane and saw the fight and had gotten involved, but then his eyes fell on a young man wearing strange clothing and holding two sticks come running out from behind one of the hedges. He swore he saw ropes shoot out of one of the sticks, and flames out of the other.

(break)

"GRYFFINDORS FORWARD!!", he cried hoping to catch their attention as he cast a stunner at the closest attacker, taking him down easily. He then burst out from hedge and using the hawthorn wand sent an incarcerous spell at a man on the left that was raising his sword to blind side one of the defenders and with the elder wand he sent a incendio toward a group of three on the right that had bunched together.

The screams of their fellows and the smell of burning flesh got the attention of those left as two had turned to see their comrades turn to ash in front of them. That was all it took for one of the defenders to thrust out his sword and catch one off guard as his blade easily sliced into his throat. Harry took no chance and cast a slashing curse at the one man that had identified him as a threat and had charged towards him, he had only made it a few feet before the upper half of his torso fell free of the rest of his body.

(break)

Furyk had seen the young man rush forward and make a slashing motion with his stick letting a red streak strike the assassin and cleave him in two, he too made a slashing a motion and one of the assassins fell headless. Bo'ric had already taken one of the assassins and was finishing up with a chest strike on another, the last assassin knowing he life was now forfeit made a mad lunge at his target. Harry saw this and in two motions he transfigured the grass in front of him into small steel blades and with the other accio'ed the man to him.

Furyk didn't know who looked more surprised him, his charge, or the assassin that had been within a dagger distance when suddenly he was pulled backwards as if one of the gardeners had yanked him forcefully and landed into a small three foot circle of spikes. Their eyes locked just then, and he could see that the young man meant no harm, and had the look of warriors like himself, like one that had faced death many times. Furyk motioned for Bo'ric to take their charge and run for the palace and get more help out here. Harry surveyed the carnage around him once more, before the drain had hit him hard. He dropped to his knees, heaving in great gulps of breath before darkness took him away.

(break)

It had been nearly two weeks since the stranger had appeared and nothing made sense quite yet. Almost automatically a seeker arrived to begin the questioning, but the young man remain unconscious for not only the rest of the day, but through the following as well. With that raken had been sent to the Empress, the first telling her of the attempt on her daughter, the second with the details of the attack, and the third with the description of the would be savior and the details that he was possibly a male marath'damane. The last also asked for instructions from the Empress, the young man had saved the life of the daughter of the nine moons, but being in the Imperial gardens and being marath'damane meant the need for answers.

The seeker did have the two assassins to question while they waited on the marath'damane to awake, and he took great pains in extracting the information and obtaining a confession from both. They had been hired on Marendalar, from the remains of a small rebellion that took place there years ago. They had only received a message of when, where and who the target was, and with that they had left on their mission. Of course the seekers would now go to Marendalar and find the source and either remove, retire, or imprison the person.

Before he could awaken, the Deathwatch took no catches with this prisoner. He was stripped and chained to a flat bunk, where they had three damanes keeping him shielded at all times. His personal belongings had been laid out on one of the tables in the next room, there wasn't much a cloak of some type of silken material, a beaded bag found inside one of the pockets, an animal skin bag of some sort, and his two sticks. His wardrobe had many guessing that he was someone's da'covale, the outer top had some form of crest on it with a lion but nobody knew who it belonged to, and the fact that he had uncut hair and his fingernails hadn't been lacquered, pointed to that possibility.

Two days after the attack he awoke and they found something else about the young man, he couldn't speak our language at all. He was fed properly and allowed to sit up, but not move. If he was a da'covale he didn't show it, he would lock eyes with anyone that would allow it, and in those eyes were not fear or timidness that one would expect. What started next was a game of sign language that both sides had to learn the rules to, the first was him pointing to his eyes and placing rounded fingers over them. With his glass lens returned to him, the communication improved greatly, but it was still hand gestures and drawn pictures. It surprised him that the first question he wanted answered was if the little girl was alright.

The seekers wanted to question him, stating that he was only making fools of them and that of course he knew the language, what fool didn't. It became an impasse between the two groups as the seekers answered only to the Empress, the Deathwatch had equal standing. A compromise of sorts was made, allowing a seeker in the room while he was questioned by the Deathwatch, and anything they wanted asked or could prove insight into would be done or used. Furyk knew that the letters had arrived by now and that an answer was forth coming, he had only to hold off the seeker until then.

He was given those two days of respite over an incident that occurred when they attempted to let a damane 'heal' the young man. As soon as she touched his head and embraced the source, her sul'dam screamed and passed out, followed shortly by the damane and the young man himself. The seeker claimed that the boy had tried killing the two of them and demanded to be allowed to interrogate and torture the prisoner. However the sul'dam woke up a few hours later and said something quite strange.

"As soon as I let Berri embrace the source, something bright came out from the boy and traveled through Berri and into me. It was not the source at all, it felt... I don't know how to explain it... alive... powerful... intelligent...", she cringed at the thought of it again and shivered. When the damane came around she had a different take on it, calling it beautiful, and warm. She had also said that he wasn't marath'damane, but something else, something she saw when she had connected to him. After that all she wanted to do was to touch him or at least be in the same room with him, Furyk had to replace her with another damane, and she had wept great tears when they informed her that she wasn't allowed back in there.

Two days early a message was received from the Empress, the message had been relayed through raken that had nearly flown themselves to death to make the distance in such short time. The message was in four parts, first was the order to have Tuon moved back to the Palace of the nine moons as soon as possible. Furyk, had expected that order and had sent a fairly large detachment of Deathwatch guards with her, when she left for Seandar seven days ago, including all the Ogiers he had. The part that surprised him was, she commanded that the young man not be harmed and for him to be ready to travel by to'raken, along with a guard and that they were to bring him to her. The third was that the names of anyone that had contact with the young man be given over to the seekers for them to remind those people to remain silent about him. And the last and the most surprising was that he was to be treated as one of the blood until command otherwise.

(break)

Sometimes the seat of power is more uncomfortable than anybody can tell, and that was how the Empress Radhannan Kore Paendrag felt right now. Last year her husband and imperial consort died, right now she missed him, as his guidance would be appreciated. She ran her hand over the cover of a book that was given to her by her mother and to her by hers, and so on down through the ages. It was rumored to belong to Tamika the High Queen herself, given to her son as a gift before his voyage. The history of the book was as much of a mystery as it origins, it was told to her that the Amyrlin Seat that deposed Bodwhin gave it to Tamika as part of a reconciliation and a promise not to interfere. There were no words on the front cover, just faded worn leather, but it was what was on the inside that counted most.

It was the original hand written version of the Karaethon Cycle, it was more than an heirloom, it was a warning to all that sat upon the thrones of the world. Inside was much more than the prophecies concerning the Dragon Reborn, there were sections where he wrote short bits of history, other parts centered on events that could only meant to describe Seanchan, and finally there were parts that discussed a single person. He was to be on the same par as the Dragon Reborn, the book called him the Destroyer, the Builder, the Bringer of justice, the one that would melt all the crowns and make them into one, and most importantly he was the hand of the Creator.

She opened the book to one of the sections that had been marked by a red ribbon and read to herself.

_The ancient blood will be marked by the stag, and the dog on his right, and the fire bird on his left. his skin will be marred by the whip and the beast of fire, his eyes will burn with the color of emeralds, and bear the lightning on his head._

She then unfolded the message that the Deathwatch had sent to her and read over the description once again.

_...his height would be around six feet tall, weight estimated at sixteen stones, hair black and unkept, and eyes green. His back shows signs of several beatings, probably flogged on more than one occasion, and scars on his shoulder and one upon his chest which looks much like a brand, there is also another scar above his right eye placed on his forehead in the shape of a single lightning bolt. He also has tattoos on both arms, on the right arm is a tattoo of a stag and a large dog, and on the left is some kind of bird with wings spread above flames._

She folded the paper back up and slipped it into the book, there could be no hoax or subterfuge about this. The contents of this book were only passed to the next in line, and only when the sitting Empress deemed it necessary. She herself had learned of the book and its contents after her mother had died and the letter she had written her about it and about the warning to pass along when her time came. She placed the book back into the desk drawl and stood when the so'jhin entered the room and knelt on the floor in front of her.

"My Empress, the display has been set up as commanded, and the prisoner awaits your summons."

She said nothing as she straightened out her dress and walked majestically to the throne room, and towards destiny.

(break)

Harry stood in front of the massive golden doors, he was surrounded at the moment by twelve females, half were wearing a gray colored dress and the others were wearing dark blue dresses with red panels and silver forked lightning on the sides and breast. What he didn't like was the silvery collars the ones with the gray dresses were wearing nor the leash that the others were holding. Circling them were men and some kind of half giant wearing red and dark green armor, the axes that the half giants were carrying sent a single message, do not fool around.

The doors opened and from what he could see, the room was the width of the Great Hall, but five times as long. Obsidian black columns with red bases stood on a white marble floor, and standing next to each column was another man or half giant in the red and dark green. As they walked down the carpeted center of the room, Harry made out a throne of glass or maybe crystal that hurt his eyes, and started a buzzing in the back of his head, like when the Headmaster tried to break through his occlumency shields during training. As they got closer he could see two long tables on either side of the room, one had what looked like his belongs and on the table were several objects including books, also there were five older looking men of varying size and shape.

"To'par Ji'", was silently whispered to him, and he remembered from their lessons, that this meant to kneel, so he did not wanting to cause anymore trouble than he had already. He planted his right knee on the carpet and only bent his head down a little, so that he could see what was going on around him. Those that surrounded him moved to his rear, and they themselves bowed and some even prostrated themselves on the ground.

Another door opened to the side and a regal looking woman stepped out, followed by six scantily dressed females and a man with the right side of his head completely shaved. It was then he noticed that the woman also had her head shaved completely, but one wouldn't really notice from the high collar dress that she wore, or the crown on her head.

She made a hand gesture and the only male to accompany her spoke something, and the others stood and moved away from him. He figured if they could get up so could he and when he tried to stand, he felt a Hagrid sized hand on his neck push him back down and hold him there. This was the last straw for Harry, for the last two weeks he had been starved, refused sleep, magically bound, and embarrassed several times. He remembered something Hagrid had told him about giants, "Giants are easy to defeat, just gotta get them off balance is all."

Harry pushed up with all of his strength, hoping that this half giant would respond in kind, as soon as he felt the increased pressure, he curled himself up dropping completely to the floor, and rolling out of the way as the half giant creature feel forwards from his own weight. He didn't notice the ten men drawing swords, nor the Empress raise a hand and stop them. As he stood he could feel the crushing weight of being bound again, but this time he wasn't going to let it happen so easily. He had some wandless skills that he had discovered during the summer before his fifth year, when he cast a simple Lumos in the alley during a dementor attack, aiming right in the middle of the group of females he pushed out with most of his anger and banish them wildly across the room. He turned his back on the rest of them and faced the Queen, Ruler, or Grand Pooh-ba and said in plain English, "I'm tired of all of this. If you let me get my wand I can cast something so that we can understand each other better." When he finished he pointed at the table that held his belongings.

(break)

The Empress had her hand raised, so that no one would move or attack this man. She surveyed what he had done, and followed his finger to the table that held what he had been found with. She couldn't understand what he had said, and by looking at the scholars they didn't either, she inclined her head in acknowledgment, but also raised two fingers on her left hand that let the two archers know to release only if she signaled. She continued to watch as he walked over and picked up one of the sticks that the report said could shoot out light and flames.

She was intrigued that he wanted her Voice of the Throne to come to him, and she motioned for him to go. The Voice stood in front of the young man and her eyebrow rose when he made a symbol of fire in the air between them. He started making hand gestures for the servant to speak, and as he did the young man also started to speak, the fiery symbol changed colors ranging from red to green to blue before she almost gasped as clearly she heard him say, "this bloody better be working or when I get back, I'm going to burn that house down."

Embarrassed again that his temper got the better of him, he mumbled an apology and waved the wand so that the translation rune would float up higher and encompass more of the room. Harry placed the wand back on the table and walked back to where he was originally and bowed to the Queen or what ever and apologized to her.

"Forgive my impudence, but for the better of two weeks a few problems could have been solved if they had allowed me my wand."

(break)

'What a strange day.', Harry thought as he lounged back on the couch in the room that the Empress had given him. After his impromptu performance with the wand, he had spent the better part of nine hours answering questions from the "Voice". At first the questions were about where he was from and what his name and strangely enough they knew that he had other names as well.

_"What is your birth name, sir?", the Voice asked._

_"Harry James Potter.", Harry had answered quickly enough._

_"What houses, honors, and titles are connected to your names as well?"_

_Harry looked around sheepishly for a moment, "I am the head of House Potter, House Black, House Peverell, and House Pendragon. I hold the honor of the Tri Wizard Champion, and through the houses of Potter and Black, I hold the title of Lord, from the house of Peverell I hold the title of Baron, and lastly from the House of Pendragon, I hold the title of Duke." Harry breathed in a deep breath and continued, "Under wizarding law my full name with titles and honors is Arch Duke Harry James Potter of the house of Pendragon, house of Peverell, house of Black, Champion of the Tri-Wizard tournament."_

_"And explain the hierarchy of your royal seat."_

He remembered going over the English peerage system, and explaining the best he could about it, and explained where is family's titles had come from. When he started to talk about Arthur Pendragon and Merlin, and that his line came from his son Loholt, there had been some surprised faces in the crowd especially from the scholars that remained huddled together the whole time.

He was asked for a writing sample of his native tongue and presented it to the scholars that began to use it while looking through several of the old tomes that laid on the table before them. The subject of questions for the first two hours remained closely on him, basically gathering general information. It was the third hour when they started asking about his powers and what possessions he had on him that things began to get dicey.

It began when they asked about the scars on his person, and when he had told them that one had come from a dragon. The questions asked then were "Do you know the Dragon?", "Where was he last?" He had to interrupt and tell them that the Dragon was not a person, but a creature, that comment got a snort from the Empress. He could kick himself for bringing up the pensive to prove his point, and that began the rest of the silliness for the day.

He laughed to himself when he thought back on the looks on their faces when he opened Hermione's beaded bag and pulled out a tent, that would not fit in such a small container, and the looks when the tent set itself up on the floor, or the stunned looks of the Ogier that had accompanied him inside the tent itself. Harry had used the stunned Ogier, to carry out several items that he figured he might need in explaining his point better.

Soon after leaving the tent, while he was setting up, it seemed that everyone entered and exited the tent with some wonder on their face, but that was nothing compared to the show that he was about to put on. He asked if he could darken the room, and placed the bowl on a table near enough to the throne that the Empress could see, but far enough away that the Deathwatch felt comfortable. He then explained that he was going to take memories from his mind and place them into the bowl and then display them for all the see.

There were some skeptical faces until the pulled the first silvery strand from his temple and placed it in the bowl. He chose carefully as the first memory was of seeing Hogwarts from the boats in his first year, the second was part of the Quidditch World Cup that he had attended, the third was of Hagrid introducing the class to Buckpeak, and the fourth was of the magical carriage the Beauxbaton's used to arrive at the school. As they played in a misty cloud above the basin, he explained them, what they were and other minor details. There was absolute silence when he finished, but from the Voice a question arose, that was simply were they real or a hoax.

He asked for a volunteer to prove that they were real, and the Voice directed one of the Deathwatch to come forward. Harry asked the man to remember something that only he could validate as being true, and told him to concentrate on that memory. Harry pulled the memory from the man and placed it in the bowl and tapped the rune set on the outside. Suddenly everyone in the room watched as the guard's memory showed a scene in which he defeated three men in a mock sword fight, and he was chosen for the Deathwatch. Once that was seen, almost automatically the request from the Voice was to see the incidents where he had gotten the scars.

Harry rubbed his face and closed his thoughts about this day, and everything else that had happened. All he wanted to really do now was sleep, and hope that the nightmares would remain in the shadows like they had for the last two weeks. He crossed the room to make himself ready for bed, when the his door opened and one of the servants entered and motioned him to follow. Harry dropped his head in defeat and sign in resignation and followed the scantily dressed man down the hallway, and up a few flights of steps into another hallway. The servant pointed to the floor and then walked inside, a few seconds later he reopened the door and allowed Harry inside.

Of course as soon as he entered he noticed the Deathwatch guards on either side of the room, and even more scantily dressed servants. He was led to a long conference type table with only two chairs at the end. The Empress was already sitting at one end and once he was seated, she made a movement with her hand and everyone left, but the servant that had brought him and two of the deathwatch. She handed a slip of paper and a golden box to the servant that in turn handed it to Harry, it was the rune that he had cast earlier that day for translation and his wand.

(break)

The bluish rune shown above the table, and now there were only himself, the Empress, and the two Deathwatch guards left in the room. They each took position behind him but far enough away not to hear what was being said. The Empress placed her hands on the table and looked down at him for a minute or two before she spoke.

"This is a conversation that must be held in private, and I hope that you understand the implications of what might happen if a word of what will be said here gets out?"

Harry nodded as he understood that he wouldn't see the next sunset if he spoke to anyone. They still were holding his belongings and while he might be able to do a few wandless feats, he was no match for the might of the full force of her guards. She picked up a small bell and rung it, two doors opened and servants poured out laden with books and other items including his belongings and placed them on the table between them, before they left. Another set of servants brought in items from his tent, including the books and some of the food and beverages that were stored in there. As they were leaving she looked at his face and recognized the look of disgust that was written on it as the servants bowed before they left their presence.

"You do not agree with having servants?", The Empress asked.

"I do not believe in slavery.", Harry answered.

"Did you not have slaves yourself? I remember you talking about this Dobby person, he was a slave of your kind, no?"

This wasn't a question that Harry wanted to answer, mainly because while Hermione always wanted to forcibly free the elves, he had spoken to Dobby about it and learned a few things that he didn't like.

"Dobby, was a house-elf, and yes house-elves were slaves to my kind, but", Harry threw that out there to stop any comments she could make, "Their servitude to the wizarding world was to pay for a crime that they made many millennia ago, and my kind, or the darker parts of my world took advantage of that. It is something that I hope has been corrected, or will be soon."

The Empress smiled as he had played right into where she wanted him to be, "That is very noble of you, but in our Empire there are three types of servitude. The da'covale is split between those who are being punished and those that are being protected, and then there is the so'jhin. While they are also in servitude, they are higher than the common man or woman. We know which of the da'covale is being punished and which are being protected, many wish to become da'covale because it is from there that many of the Empire's more worthy occupations come from, like the Deathwatch guards that are standing behind you."

"What about the collars you force some to wear?", Harry asked in hopes that it would destroy her argument about being fair and all.

"You mean the damane? Would you like to know more about that part of our history? You claim that these house-elves committed a crime of some sort. The marath'damane have committed several crimes through out our history and still do." She rose before Harry could answer and picked through a few books before finding the ones that she wanted and placed them down on the table in front of Harry.

"In these you will find the incomplete history of a group that call themselves the Aes Sedai, which means servants to all. In the age of legends they helped mankind and developed many wondrous things, they were not a political power and many of the them lived life as most people do, as farmers, blacksmiths, teachers and healers. They became arrogant and wanted more power for themselves and they finally thought that they had found it, but what they found was not this great new power, but the Dark One's prison. What they unleashed unto the world was destruction and death."

Before she returned to her chair, she walked to the wall and opened a cabinet and removed a small chest and came back to the table with it. "In the end, they tried to reseal the prison, but only managed to patch the hole, but the Dark One had the finial laugh as he tainted the male half of the source, called saidin. Any man that could channel went mad and caused "the breaking", which destroyed our world, continents were lost, oceans moved, and mountains raised."

Her fiery commentary changed pitch and calmly she asked, "You have met the Ogier, do you know what is special about their homes?" Harry shook his head in the negative.

"They are called Steddings, they seem to be shielded in some unknown way that completely prevents the power from being channeled, or even sensed. One cannot attempt to wield the power from inside, and attempts to wield the power outside to effect the inside do not work. Strange that a solution to the problem existed and was not utilized was it not?"

Harry nodded and wondered where she was taking this.

"One could speculate that all the male Aes Sedai of the world could have gone into a stedding to escape such a disastrous end. A few groups did of course, but what of the unaffected female Aes Sedai? Did they go out and capture those that hadn't and bring them to one? No, they did not. Their solution was stilling any man that could channel, or out right killing him."

"As an Empress of this empire, I have thought upon this time from a ruler's point of view. If I wanted to eliminate a political rival, or gain more power what better way than to place a deranged male channeler into my enemies city and let him destroy it. With so many walking around, all I would have to do is protect my small slice of property until they were killed and then come out and take over."

Harry was shocked at what she was implying, how could anyone do such a thing? Think of all the innocent people that would be hurt or killed. He was suddenly reminded of Voldemort, and how he had used the dementors and the werewolves to instill a sense of fear, just by unleashing them into any populace and letting them do what they wanted.

"After the breaking is where history splits into three paths. First is another continent to the Southeast of here, called the Land of Madmen. There is no rule and no laws, people live in caves and would kill you on sight if they didn't know you. The second was here in Seanchan, where the remains of the Aes Sedai fought each other openly for their kingdoms, they would swear an oath to your face and then stab you in the back when it suited them. They cared nothing for those that couldn't wield the power and enslaved them as you see slavery."

"But the third path is the most interesting and the most enlightening when it comes to the actions of the more ancient Aes Sedai. Soon after the breaking was over, a group of them banded together and started to build a city, and central form of government that they openly controlled. The ones that disagreed with this were killed or stilled so as to be out of the way. Remember the elimination of rivals and usurpers is important when one is rewriting history. They built their city and used their power to "help" other governments, with the promise that they will use the Aes Sedai as advisors to the crowns."

'How very Slytherin of them.", Harry thought.

She opened the box that she had brought from the wall space, and pulled out several pieces of old looking parchment. "Then we come to my forefather, the Great King Artur Hawkwing Paendrag. He was the first to discover the awful truth behind the power of the Aes Sedai, and to what lengths they would take to silence the truth that they themselves didn't want heard. During the one thousand years after the breaking whenever gathered governments started to pull away from the Aes Sedai, a male channeler would appear and create chaos, that only they could stop, one such man was named Amalasan"

"My forefather stopped him and captured him, but before he could be handed over to the Aes Sedai, he made a confession. This is that confession." She placed a weathered old document down on the table, that had two seals placed upon it. "It states what they wanted him to do, to destabilize certain governments so that more "friendly" ones could emerge. My forefather fought the Tower, and in the process had both of his wives assassinated, from his first wife four children were assassinated, and the only thing that saved the second line was his attempt to conquer two lands outside of their control."

"The reason why we collar the damane is that there is no better way to keep them from harming others, either in their manipulations, grabs for power, or sheer arrogance, and they still serve the function that they were originally sworn to. And in doing so we have created a stable and consolidated government that upholds the law, punishes the evil, and offers prosperity to everyone. I think that from viewing your memories that you can understand the need to for some type of counter point to check against those that are out to abuse their power."

He wasn't thinking of placing a collar on anyone in particular, but given the lack of chooses in this world, it had some merit, but very little.

Harry looked a bit worried after the speech, "You intent to place a collar on me as well?" He asked the question, but was afraid of the answer.

"You are an enigma to my best der'sul'dams. After your incident with one of our damane, we thought it important to test you to see if you were indeed a channeler. In the throne room there were two such devices there to detect the power, one made for saidin, and the other to detect saidar, the results were interesting to say the least. Neither detected anything, but still you used some kind of power, there are those that speculated that you were using the true source, and there are others that claim some of the things you did, could not be done with the power itself, that it was something different. The power is about manipulating the five elements, but you manipulated physical matter in a style that cannot be done with the power."

"There is part of me that wants to order your execution, but the more we learn about you the more I am moving away from that option, however, there is still this." She pulled a battered red leather book from within her sleeve and opened it up. "Does your kind believe in prophecy?", she asked. Harry almost moaned out loud as his thoughts turned dark.

"From your reaction, I would believe, yes. And that you have been mentioned in at least one, this book however holds many of them. You are mentioned in this book several times and not all of them make me feel uplifted that you are here amongst us. After you are educated, if you like, I will allow you to read the passages from it, but first we must discuss your future with us." Harry was at least relieved that he wasn't going to be killed just yet, but the sound of her voice was a bit ominous about his future prospects.

"First thing in the morning, you will receive a haircut befitting your station. During the daytime you will be taught our language, customs, culture, and defense. In the evenings you will make yourself available to me and my scholars so that we may study your abilities, if things go well we will release your belongings back to you a piece at a time as a reward, once we have determined that they are safe to have here at the Palace. Furthermore you will be staying in and on the grounds of the palace until further notice, and you will keep your identity a secret to all but those I deem necessary. If you attempt to leave or tell anyone of this arrangement, I will have you put to the axe. Do we have an agreement?"

All Harry could do at this moment was nod his head in affirmation.


End file.
